Antipsychotic Polypharmacy: Just Say No (for the Most Part)

Adverse effects of adjunctive aripiprazole for chronic schizophrenia were few, but so were the benefits — at least in moderately ill patients.

Clinicians are increasingly employing antipsychotic polypharmacy to treat patients with chronic schizophrenia, despite the absence of an evidence base for this practice. In a 16-week, manufacturer-funded study — the largest randomized, controlled trial ever to examine this issue — 323 subjects with chronic schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder who were inadequately responding to a stable regimen (≥4 weeks) of either quetiapine (400–800 mg) or risperidone (4–8 mg) received either adjunctive aripiprazole (2–15 mg; mean, 10.4 mg) or adjunctive placebo.

Nearly 70% of patients in each treatment arm completed the trial. In both groups, scores on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) improved by a mean of almost 9 points, a nearly id…

Reviewing Author

Peter Roy-Byrne, MD

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Peter Roy-Byrne, MD

Disclosures

Editorial BoardsUpToDate